I know this will be contentious - cost of living rise

[qualitychat]

My mum is a pensioner and gets Disability Benefit and Mobility Benefit and Pension Credit. She receives almost what I get in a month. She is moaning about the Government not doing enough about the cost of gas and electricity, which I agree with. The thing is they have said that people on benefits and pension credit will be given lump sums towards their bills. I am a middle earner and so is my husband. We will likely get nothing. Do you not think it will be the ordinary working families who will be squeezed the most if something is not done?

[Appleyard8]

MIL is a classic boomer, she bought the house for peanuts and now it’s worth over £1m. Since FIL passed away she’s looking to ‘downsize’ into another 5 bed detached for £800k. She has hundreds of thousands in the bank. Yet still concerned about fuel costs allegedly. Thankfully she pays our nursery fees and some of our mortgage so I can’t be too harsh on her. But I agree middle incomes will suffer. DH and I earn 90K between us working full time and would really struggle without the additional help. MIL has never even worked full time but is cashing in on pensioner credits.

The three other houses on our estate are all owned by pensioners, all in 4 or 5 bed homes. All have new cars outside, shopping in M&S, don’t seem remotely concerned about energy prices. We will never see wealth like this in our lifetime IMO DH and I will work until we drop dead.

[Morph22010]

@Babyroobs

Yes exactly. There are huge numbers of disabled pensioners on disability benefits sitting on large amounts of savings accumulated before they became disabled, so that is why it's only £150. I regularly do benefit checks for pensioners on disability benefits and they have 50 k in the bank. This is not unusual at all. Or a second home that they rent out to supplement their pension.

I get dla for my son so I’ll get the £150 but at the minute because of how things have aligned with school etc both me and his dad are managing to work full time so our household income is about £85k.

[Wouldloveanother]

@Rosscameasdoody

Reject it all you like. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t pay for our own care - it’s the system that is the problem. It should be properly funded so that everyone pays what they can afford in the form of a social care tax or similar. I’ve had this conversation on several threads. An elderly relative has recently gone into a care home and because she is a self funder, she is charged £1000 a month more than LA funded residents for exactly the same facilities. When we queried this we were told it’s standard practice and the extra charge goes towards funding those who can’t pay themselves. If our relative lives five years she will have paid £60,000 towards other people’s care. From her own funds, provided by the sale of her home which she worked hard to pay for. Yet if she runs out of funds she will have to throw herself on the mercy of the LA and will probably be moved to cheaper accommodation if the home she is in isn’t on the list of facilities funded by the LA. I agree that elderly care has to be paid for, but this isn’t a fair or sustainable way to do it.

So working age people should pay for elderly care and ‘suck it up as that’s what society is’, but the same sentiment doesn’t apply to your relative contributing financially towards other elderly people?

[Flutterbybudget]

And this is what the “ruling classes” want
Me and you, the people struggling to make ends meet, blaming each other, squabbling over the crumbs that fall from the tables of the rich.
instead of envying a disabled pensioner for a one off payment, that might help them for one month, why not protest against the MPs who get to claim their bills on expenses, in addition to their £83k salaries and second home allowances?

[Cyclemarine]

@ohdearnotme

People are getting handouts tho...

I know someone who works 20 hours a week minimum wage but with her UC which includes housing benefit she actually takes home nearly £35k a year.

Rent round here is ridiculously high and a large proportion does go on that, but she is not struggling by any stretch, plus she benefits from all the freebies UC people get, plus the top ups.

No judgement on my side, she worked full time her entire life before her divorce and can't make childcare work to do it again, so has little choice but to take the handout. But it most certainly is a handout.

In this instance it sounds as if it makes sense since she is a single parent, but I know people who do the same and have a partner and their kids are all teens or older now as well.

I can imagine they are taking in a lot on housing benefit and wouldn't be much better off working full-time, but I believe the root problem is high rents.

Were rents more reasonable, perhaps it would be more affordable and appealing for people to work full-time and pay for everything themselves? If we dealt with this housing crisis, I think the squeezed middle who tend not to be on housing benefit etc would benefit greatly.

Recently a gov minister said people on 45K would be needing assistance to get them through this, there is something wrong with the system if people earning 45K are being forced to depend on the government for 'handouts' what they need is to get a grip of energy and housing so we can all afford to pay our own way.

[BaileySharp]

I think the big problem is many small businesses will go bust. Their energy rates are increasing too and everyone will have less money to spend. High streets will be emptier than ever

[justasking111]

I listened to a retired gentleman tonight being interviewed about Sellafield being upgraded. He was angry because the land was RSPB land a SSSI birds would be threatened as well as other wildlife.

It occurred to me not for the first time that if we did have rolling power cuts this winter would he be talking like this publicly . Would extinction rebellion be celebrating thinking of all the energy we weren't using. Or would they be lynched??

[antelopevalley]

@busybusy10

Hi

YANBU. I am probably classed as an average earner but have to count the pennies every month. Family members claiming seem to have more money than I do. Why are they getting payouts to help with the cost of living but I can't. Dreading the next few months coming up.

What do you think an average earner is? I suspect you are above that.

[Cyclemarine]

@rainbowmilk

Sadly nobody cares - it’s all about hard working families. During lockdown I went months and months living alone without being able to touch anyone or have them over to see me. Same thing will happen here. Even if the middle incomes are given help, it’ll be based on dependants and those without won’t matter.

This is so true, it's utterly disgusting when I hear the politicians go on about 'hardworking families' as if you need to be in a family for them to care about you.

[Wouldloveanother]

@Appleyard8

MIL is a classic boomer, she bought the house for peanuts and now it’s worth over £1m. Since FIL passed away she’s looking to ‘downsize’ into another 5 bed detached for £800k. She has hundreds of thousands in the bank. Yet still concerned about fuel costs allegedly. Thankfully she pays our nursery fees and some of our mortgage so I can’t be too harsh on her. But I agree middle incomes will suffer. DH and I earn 90K between us working full time and would really struggle without the additional help. MIL has never even worked full time but is cashing in on pensioner credits.

The three other houses on our estate are all owned by pensioners, all in 4 or 5 bed homes. All have new cars outside, shopping in M&S, don’t seem remotely concerned about energy prices. We will never see wealth like this in our lifetime IMO DH and I will work until we drop dead.

Not on 90k with your mortgage and childcare paid for, you won’t,

[Elfen]

We'll, surely, if government's had listened and increased our renewable energy resources decades ago when warned the current situation was coming, this wouldn't be an issue.

[woodhill]

I thought the hike in NI was to fund social care

[woodhill]

Or Thatcher had left the gas alone and not sold off our silver

[Wouldloveanother]

@woodhill

I thought the hike in NI was to fund social care

It was. So it’s ok for working people to pay for pensioners, but not for pensioners to pay for other pensioners. Plus if they’re in care homes they no longer need their houses do they?

[Flowersintheattic57]

The basic UC for an adult on their own is £65 a week, council tax is paid and I’m mortgage free. After nearly a year of living on pretty much rice and beans, I’ve had a chronic illness assessment and now get £600 a month. A very welcome rise. All of my UC income doesn’t cover the estimate of my monthly utilities bill. It’s all very well looking for someone to rage at, but people on benefits are not to blame for this shitshow.
Voting for tax cuts will not improve public services.

[woodhill]

Yes but I can see it's unfair on the elderly who have been very frugal but own a modest house. It's very difficult

[busybusy10]

@antelopevalley

What do you think an average earner is? I suspect you are above that.

Hi

I earn £17K in the South East so probably not earning above the average.

[Wouldloveanother]

@woodhill

Yes but I can see it's unfair on the elderly who have been very frugal but own a modest house. It's very difficult

What do you mean frugal?

[Libertyqueen]

Most people are suffering. Don’t turn on each other, look at the very, very wealthy people choosing to allow energy companies to make large profits so they can pay more in dividends to other very, very wealthy people.
Nationalising energy companies as a policy doesn’t look so silly now.

[woodhill]

They own a house but didn't have much disposable income and still don't but have an asset

[Sugarplumfairy65]

@Appleyard8

MIL is a classic boomer, she bought the house for peanuts and now it’s worth over £1m. Since FIL passed away she’s looking to ‘downsize’ into another 5 bed detached for £800k. She has hundreds of thousands in the bank. Yet still concerned about fuel costs allegedly. Thankfully she pays our nursery fees and some of our mortgage so I can’t be too harsh on her. But I agree middle incomes will suffer. DH and I earn 90K between us working full time and would really struggle without the additional help. MIL has never even worked full time but is cashing in on pensioner credits.

The three other houses on our estate are all owned by pensioners, all in 4 or 5 bed homes. All have new cars outside, shopping in M&S, don’t seem remotely concerned about energy prices. We will never see wealth like this in our lifetime IMO DH and I will work until we drop dead.

If your mother in law has savings of more than 6k she will not get pension credits. The only benefit she would be entitled to would be state oension

[Pleasebeafleabite]

@Babyroobs

I never fail to be amazed by how few women have never hardly worked in their lifetime. I regularly come across women who have barely worked and so barely get much of a state pension and have to rely on pension credit.

Imagine having to give up work because you’d got married or become pregnant.

Imagine not being eligible to join the pension scheme because you worked part time

Nothing amazing about it

[Rosscameasdoody]

@Babyroobs

Yes exactly. There are huge numbers of disabled pensioners on disability benefits sitting on large amounts of savings accumulated before they became disabled, so that is why it's only £150. I regularly do benefit checks for pensioners on disability benefits and they have 50 k in the bank. This is not unusual at all. Or a second home that they rent out to supplement their pension.

Disability benefits for pensioners in the form of AA or DLA aren’t means tested, so why would you need to check on savings ? And what about disabled people - pensioners or not - who have been disabled all their lives and haven’t had the opportunity to accumulate large amounts of savings ? Very many of them earn just above the thresholds for means tested help - they struggle but are still not entitled to anything above the £150. A friend is profoundly disabled and has large energy bills because she needs to use specialist equipment either needing to be plugged in permanently or recharged - she can’t move around without her power chair, which has to be recharged overnight. Her husband works hours limited by his caring duties for her, and she has care services in the rest of the time, which they have to pay for. She’s in receipt of PIP so will only get the £550 universal payments plus the £150 disability benefit payment. In relation to the energy they have no choice about using, this will be a drop in the ocean.

[Bubblyinblanch]

Yanbu. My wealthy father in Ireland receives his free travel and every other perk possible, which he doesn't need. He even receives a small pension from the UK after working 2 years in the 60s on top of his own large pension. He's also the tightest man you'll ever meet and wouldn't give you the steam off his piss. It irks me that I pay taxes for his bullshit. Of course working people will suffer more. And before anyone says 'you'll inherit blah blah blah', he's a capricious man and I have no idea if I'll inherit. Just fucks me off that he's driving around in a lexus, while I'm worried about inflation and working my arse off.

[Wouldloveanother]

@Pleasebeafleabite

Imagine having to give up work because you’d got married or become pregnant.

Imagine not being eligible to join the pension scheme because you worked part time

Nothing amazing about it

Happy days. Most of the FT working mums I know are absolutely knackered.